The first Floor
Calux and Nora were these young ones in their late teens, who had come from to this city of Sleetrest from Sapos. Arun didnt mention where he was from, nor did they ask. But from the way these two talked about Sapos, he figured that Sapos was this small town, and it is located somewhere North of Sleetrest. And apparently, it was the only town in this quadrant. As far as the definition of the quadrant is concerned, he didnt ask what it meant. He didnt want to raise too many questions.
As far as dungeons are covered, he didnt know what exactly they were…
"My grandfather said that he used to dungeon dive three times a week in his youth," Calux said.
"Well, how can you compare my mother with your grandfather?" Nora said condescendingly, "She was a silver star adventurer. Low-level dungeons weren't her cup of tea. She would go to high-level dungeons, that is why she would only once every week,"
So dungeons are divided into different levels, that is interesting, Arun thought. He then looked at Calux, the boy looked a little angry at her words.
It was then he asked, "Has anyone of you ever gone dungeon diving? What is it like?"
Nora scoffed, "My mother did take me once when I was young. And from what I saw, it was very hectic… Her party was in the front, killing monsters. While I was in the back, with the Scavenger group. I didnt see a lot of action, but I do remember seeing the process through which the monsters were processed. I remember I had a Kong Skull for dinner that day."
"Kong?" Arun asked.
"It is a type of a monster," Calux added.
"Oh," he said, "I need to learn on lot of things. I really dont know a lot of stuff about monsters and dungeons and stuff."
Nora then rolled her eyes again, "You should have thought about it before thinking about joining the Adventurer guild."
Calux passed him a smile, "Dont worry about it. You will learn everything eventually,"
"Can you help me?"
"Sure," Calux said enthusiastically, "My grandfather said we should always help fellow humans in need,"
"Okay. Talk to me about dungeons. Tell me everything about them, tell me as if I am a four-year-old child," he said. And Calux was happy to help…
That night Arun more or less understood the important aspects of the tower and the situation of this floor. He talked to Calux about dungeons, and most importantly about Adventurers.
To start, this particular floor is like a giant continent. According to Calux, the continent is surrounded by water from all sides, and beyond the horizon was the end of the world. There are 7 cities on the continent, and three of them are major cities, also called Walled Cities. Sleetrest is a Walled City, along with Limeborn and Flosina, they were the same names that he got when he touched the lamp pole.
Most of the continent is covered by rivers, forests, lakes, grasslands, etc. And monsters of all shapes and sizes roam these lands, and most of them will attack humans on sight. From what he got, Goblins are an F-rank monster, the lowest rank that a monster could get on the basis of power level. The Ranks of Monsters start from F, then E, D, C, B, A, and finally to the S-rank. And there is only one monster in the world with S-Rank.
From what he got, this world was way different from Earth. There was no concept of farming in this world, because of the presence of the monsters. In this continent, some monsters have the power to destroy cities, which is why there are so few settlements all around the place. As far as farming is concerned, there is not really a need for it in this world. Which is why it was never invented, at least that was his theory.
Dungeons are these underground caves that spawn monsters, which dont disintegrate after one kills them. Those monsters in the dungeon become the source of food for the people of this world. Some dungeons spawn goblin villages, and people can acquire grains from there. Dungeons take care of these people's meat and grain needs, and as every dungeon resets after some time, the people of this floor have an unlimited supply of food, if only dirty politics didnt have a role in this system.
Nobles of this world had occupied the dungeon entrances under their name. And they dont let Adventurers recklessly in to hunt. This way they regulate the flow of food in the world and remain in power.
Adventurers are like mercenaries of the world. They were the weapon for hire, they do all kinds of stuff from providing protection against monsters, to gathering resources from the world outside the cities. And the Adventurers were divided into different categories, based on their strengths. The Bronze Star is the lowest rank and it goes up from there to Copper, silver, gold, and finally Platinum Star, the highest rank that an Adventurer could achieve.
To become an Adventurer, one needs to get themselves registered to the guild. The Guild will then not only provide Adventurers job opportunities, but will also assess them to give them ranks.
After getting all the essential information, Calux wanted to retire for the night. So he bade the boy a good night and went to sleep as well. There were a ton of more questions that he wanted to ask the young man but decided that he would just ask them later on. Because from what he got, he and Calux had become good friends…
***
The damn tavern owner kicked all of them out as soon as the sun rose in the sky. Nora didnt want anything to do with them, as she thought of herself as superior, so she bade them farewell and went on her own. Calux on the other hand was happy to accompany Arun to the Adventurer guild, where he would register himself as an Adventurer today.
After having some breakfast and losing all the money he had, Arun along with Calux made it to the Adventurer guild before the sun could rise above their head.
The Guild resembled something between a tavern and an official bank building. As soon as one enters they would be greeted by a row of chairs and table, where Adventurer and their party are free to discuss their dealings. The guild also served food and non-alcoholic drinks. Further on was the area with the official work of the guild took place. Just like a typical bank, there were several windows behind which several Guild employees were seated to help Adventurers.
Calux helped him fill out the form to join the guild. And it is while filling out the form that Callux asked a weird question, "So what is your class?" he asked.
"What do you mean?" Arun asked, puzzled by the questions.
"You dont know that as well?" Calux asked with astonishment. Still, he didnt look down upon him, "Well let me clarify it… Classes represent the way you fight. People with the Warrior class fight with weapons and stuff. The mage class wields magic. While Warlock on the other hand was the blend of warrior and mage,"
"Well… currently I am a warrior. But later on, I might think I can become a mage," Arun said truthfully. Ever since he had learned that magic existed in this world, he was interested in learning it.
"Well when you do, you can come back here and change your class."
After the forms were filled, Arun was made to touch a crystal ball. It displayed his stats, and also showed his level at the time. He realized that he might be able to hide his skills in the future, but not his strength from the guild.
After everything was written down in his records, he was awarded a small star necklace, made of bronze. And with that, he had officially become an adventurer.
Calux then went and showed him around the guild, and in the end, he showed him the job board F-Rank Adventurers like them.
"Look at this," Calux said, "Gather this herb.. Gather this herb.. Gather this wood.. Find this fruit… These are all stupid jobs. I didnt learn swordsmanship in order to pick herbs."
Arun didnt mind picking herbs, if he could paid well for it, "And how many such jobs do we have to do, before we get a chance to do you know.. Some real work." He asked.
Calux sighed, "A lot. From what I have heard, we need to complete 50 such tasks for promotion to Bronze Star. And then the real struggle would begin."
"It would be fine. You have some mad skills, dont you," Arun said to cheer Calux up, "You will be able to rise in ranks in no time."
"It sounds easy," Callux said, "But believe me it is not. For a normal person like, it would take a lot of effort to reach Silver Star. I wish I had some barbarian blood in me,"
Seeing this a perfect opportunity, Arun asked, "You know, I have heard about barbarians… But is it true what they say?" he asked.
Callux nodded, "Oh yeah. Most of the rumors about them are true. They could level up a lot more easily than the rest of us. I have seen this barbarian slave, this man… he was able to push his level from 8 to 13 in just a month. You might not understand because you are new to all of these kinds of things, but leveling up 5 times in a month's worth of time is nothing to scoff at. No one in the history of mankind had risen this high, in such a small amount of time."
"Forget about the barbarians.. Let's just pick one job. I have spent my money and I dont want to sleep on an empty stomach today." Arun said. And with that, both of them took their first job as an adventurer that day…
***
A week passed by, and in that time Arun was able to settle himself in the strange new world rather nicely. He worked as an adventurer during the day time, practicing swordsmanship with Calux during the evening, and at night he would work as a cleaner in the same tavern where he spent his first night.
Although he had the goblin's bow, he decided that it would be for the best to sell the thing. He wanted to use it, but he couldnt find any suitable place where he could practice his archery, for free. The arrows cost a lot of money, and with his not-so-great current skills, he realized that it would be best to practice something that would really help him. And swordsmanship was the answer, considering he was friends with a man who had been practicing the art since his childhood.
In the week's worth of time, Arun realized why every adventurer in the town hated Earthlings, and why the stall owner on his first day asked whether he had something nefarious in his mind. Because Earthlings are simply too overpowered.
He might not remember what he used to do on Earth, but he figures that he was a soldier of some sort. Considering how calm and collected he was during his first kill. And as a soldier, he knows how hard it is to master any weapon of any sort. But from what he could see, in weeks' worth of time he had learned so much from Calux that he could no longer be called an amateur. In a week's worth of time, he had gone from brutally getting his ass handed over, to making the match draw.
That is why it made sense to him to stick to a sword for now. He would pick up the bow again in the future, but for now, he would have to stick where he sees his growth…
That evening, Arun was swinging his sword on the outskirts of the city, the place where he and Calux usually practice. For some reason Calux was absent, he didnt know where he was, but figured that he would come by soon. And sure enough, when he was done with the warm-up, Calux showed up to the place. He was huffing and puffing and had this huge smile on his face.
"Arun, you believe what just happened," Calux said.
"What?"
"Well, I was talking to some silver star adventurer after we came back from our quest, and guess what? The guy had invited us to dungeon dive tomorrow. We won't fight, and we will remain in the Scavenging group. But we could accompany them."
Arun formed a smile on his face, "That is fantastic." He wanted to visit the dungeon since he knew that there was a thing called Dungeon Shop. From what he knew, for the residents of this floor, there was no such thing. But as he was a player, maybe this shop was exclusive to people like him. That is why he was itching to go to a dungeon…